THE GOVERNMENT OF THE DOMINIONS 209
Legislative Conncil has had a very different history Chapter
from the early days of its creation when it quarrelled __1.
steadily with the lower house. It is nominee, and,
though formerly the Imperial Government controlled
the increase of its membership, that practice is now
obsolete. Its legal powers originally rested on the sup-
posed analogy of the British House of Commons. In
1917 a quarrel over an Excess Profits Tax bill re-
sulted in the enactment of a measure which places
it in precisely the same legal position as is occupied
by the House of Lords under the Parliament Act,
1911.
The Legislative Council of New Zealand now rests
on the basis of nomination, members holding office for
seven years, with the possibility of reappointment. It
is left to convention to regulate its powers; the lower
house claims that it is possessed of sole control over
money bills. In 1914 an elaborate measure was passed
to provide for the election of a house of 40 members by
proportional representation, with provision for solution
by joint session of disputes over bills other than money
bills, which were to be in the sole power of the lower
house, but the Act has never been made operative, and
it seems improbable that any such change is now
desired. The Council, which includes men of ripe
experience like Sir F. Bell and Sir James Allen, acts
most usefully as a revising body; it has long since
ceased to contend with the lower house on matters of
principle as opposed to detail. It has recently shown
itself sensitive to the encroachments of the lower house
under the assertion of privilege by appointing a Com-
mittee to aid the Speaker of the Council in countering
such claims when unduly pressed.